Active Pickups

[DrewJD82]

Despite believing I had an aversion to active pickups, I’m using them quite a bit.

Gilmour Strat- DG-20’s (3 SA’s, SPC/EXG boosters)
Ibanez RG7620- EMG 707
Ibanez SZ- Fishman Devin Townsend set
Spector Pulse- EMG Jazz bass setup
Edwards- Zakk Wylde EMG’s incoming (81/85)

All my ill will towards actives came from the EMG’s my uncle had in his RG570 back in the day. I played the hell out of that guitar, mainly through a Digitech 2101 and I think the digital tone left a negative imprint in my mind. I didn’t play EMG’s again until I got the 7-string that had the 707 and I was surprised at how spanky that pickup is. It’s not a high-gain/brutal pickup. Once I put the Gilmour Strat together, I was completely sold on them. I f*cking LOVE those pickups and the boosters. So many tones to get out of that guitar as a result of them.

I dig the Fishman’s due to the different switching options. The Townsend set does Active, Passive and Passive + Split Coil and it does those well enough that the guitar almost sounds like 3 different guitars.

I still feel like I prefer passive pickups, but I think that’s just my head still holding onto my early EMG experiences.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

I'd love to try something a Het Set in it

I bought a Het Set two years ago and didn‘t like it at all. It sounded ridiculously bloated to me - way too much output and too much bass. Sent it back to Thomann and put the trusty 81 back into the guitar.

 

[JT]

I bought a Het Set two years ago and didn‘t like it at all. It sounded ridiculously bloated to me - way too much output and too much bass. Sent it back to Thomann and put the trusty 81 back into the guitar.

Interesting. Did you ever try the 85 in the bridge?

 

[DrewJD82]

Even Gilmour's use of them helped him push signal through 2,700 feet
of instrument cable, and 18,000 patch bay connections in his monster live
rig. Also, noiseless. I am sure he dug the tone, but there were those other
considerations going on as well, and are worth mentioning.

This is true; he originally started using them due to the lighting rigs causing so much noise with his rig. He went back to the Black Strat in ‘05 because everything was pretty much LED’s at that point and there‘s been a lot of advancements in gear/lighting from ‘85 when he first started using them. He only used it for a couple more years, for clean stuff mainly, after ‘05 and it was pretty much unused from ‘07 on. I believe he said he felt non-actives delivered a “more” Strat sound.

 

[la szum]

I'd love to have enough Strats to have the DG20 set in one. Because it does do a "thing."

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Interesting. Did you ever try the 85 in the bridge?

Yes, I have an 85 in the bridge position of my Fender Modern Strat. That guitar sounded a little bit too bright and spanky with the 81, now with the 85 it‘s perfect.

 

[jellodog]

@DrewJD82 Thanks for that. I don't know what to make of it aurally TBH. I think @la szum's point about Gilmour pushing signal with less noise over distance is probably true. And then of course he's going through a whole bunch of other stuff and then a state of the art mixing desk haha.

I'd like to hear what these pickups sound like plugged straight into an amp with just 10 or 15 feet of cable, so I can compare that more easily to what I know.

So far, my journey has been to deliberately go out of my way to have increasingly lower output pickups because "tonez". i.e. Lollar Blondes. Although I do have a slightly stronger "Special" in the bridge (formerly known as the "Dirty Blonde" configuration).

Trying to be open-minded about these EMGs and others, though.

 

[metropolis_4]

Well that's a good starting point. I've learned something. I am one of your "people" that you're referring to for sure

I think one of the problems is that I always see demos where somebody (I assume) has their amp tone stack dialed in for their gain sound, but start off a demo with "and here is my clean sound..." and it nearly always sounds utterly insipid and lacking in any sort of flavour.

If that "clean sound" in those sorts of pickup demos was a drink, it would taste like dirty dishwater.

I'm looking at you Fluff!

Haha, yeah I know exactly the tone you mean and I hate it too. I associate that sound with the EMG humbuckers, not their single coils. Usually it’s the 81/85 or 81/81 combination when I hear that. I hate those pickups for clean tones.

To me, the newer X series are a major improvement over the originals, and the retro-active are great if you want more of a traditional passive sound. If you haven’t tried the X series I think they’re definitely worth checking out. I don’t know why new guitars always seem to come with the original versions and not the X series

One of the best things about them is the active EQs you can add. I think a SSS Strat with SAX pickups and an SPC wired to the bridge is the best “HSS while still having a single coil bridge option” solution out there. For me it works way better than any passive HSS setup with coil taps.

Another fun thing with the Strat pickups especially are the tones you can get going direct with them and not using an amp. There are some awesome 80s flavored clean tones available

 

[jellodog]

One of the best things about them is the active EQs you can add.

Oh that _is_ interesting. Sometimes a strat pickup resonant peak pokes out in a harsh way with some amp tones; it might be helpful to tweak that.

Based on what you've said, it does seem that I still wouldn't be into the EMG humbuckers, but that I should pay more attention to examples of their single coils. I will try and be more observant and open to them in future.

 

[Blix]

I'm thinking of adding the RPC to the 8-string for better clean tones. The stock tone control is pretty useless anyway. :)

 

[DrewJD82]

I bought a Het Set two years ago and didn‘t like it at all. It sounded ridiculously bloated to me - way too much output and too much bass. Sent it back to Thomann and put the trusty 81 back into the guitar.

I watched a ton of comparison vids earlier this week of the more popular EMG humbuckers, always felt the Het’s had way more midrange than I’d prefer to have in a guitar mostly aimed at metal.

This is a pretty good demo here, listen to the dude nailing the AJFA tone with the 81, but not so much when he uses the Het set.



That said, I can understand why Hetfield has them tweaked that way and it’s the same reason everyone says “their tone sucks these days”, they’re playing massive stadiums and arenas where the AJFA tone just won’t work. They’re using less distortion and more mids because in venues of that size, that’s the sh*t that gives clarity instead of smiley face EQ’s. Totally different than the tone one would dial in for the local VFW hardcore show.

 

[DrewJD82]

Oh that _is_ interesting. Sometimes a strat pickup resonant peak pokes out in a harsh way with some amp tones; it might be helpful to tweak that.

Based on what you've said, it does seem that I still wouldn't be into the EMG humbuckers, but that I should pay more attention to examples of their single coils. I will try and be more observant and open to them in future.

The Gilmour set comes with SPC (mid boost) and an EXG (bass/treble boost) that replaces the tone pots. When they’re both turned all the way down it’ll sound like a traditional Strat single coil, but turning them up can get into humbucker territory where the ratty/spanky single coil tone goes away and turns into something closer to a PAF than a single coil. I’m really in love with those pickups and while I don’t touch the tone knob on my other guitars, I’m CONSTANTLY tweaking the SPC/EXG boosts. You see Gilmour tweaking them as he’s singing quite a bit in that PULSE DVD.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

@DrewJD82 EMG 81 is the opposite of a smiley face EQ. Usually passive PUs are much more scooped (or „open“, as the passive PU aficionado would say). That‘s what the Het Set (and the 57/66) is about - a more „open“, passive-like sound with emphasized bass and highs.

 

[jellodog]

turning them up can get into humbucker territory where the ratty/spanky single coil tone goes away

RATTY strat single coil tone?

Clutching my pearls here

 

[hemmelight]

 

[spawnofthesith]

Not really into them, but I will take SD Blackouts over EMGs any day of the week

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Not really into them, but I will take SD Blackouts over EMGs any day of the week

I have never tried Blackouts. How would you describe them, compared to EMGs?

 

[spawnofthesith]

I have never tried Blackouts. How would you describe them, compared to EMGs?

It's been over 10 years and thousands of bong rips since I've had a guitar with active pickups, so I would hesitate to try and quantify any specifics.. but I do know I always liked the SDs significantly more than EMGs trying both in the same guitar. Something about EMGs always rubbed me the wrong way tonally for some reason

 

[Devin]

Currently the only ones I have are the Fishman Fluence Classic/Single-Width combo. They're pretty solid


In the past I loved the EMG 85 for the br00talz

Duncan EMTY is pretty sweet too

 

[metropolis_4]

The SPC is so great to have on the bridge pickup in a Strat

Off = Strat
2 = Tele
Full = humbucker

It’s the best way I’ve found yet to get the flavor of all three out of one guitar

One of the cool things about it is that it’s actually an active EQ, not just a mid boost. It also rolls off highs and a bit of lows. The idea is to make an EMG single coil sound like a humbucker